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News From the Field

Gemini and Keck put new spin on galaxy formation


December 14, 2015

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A team of Australian researchers used two observatories based on Hawaii's Mauna Kea--including the NSF-funded Gemini Observatory--to discover why some galaxies are clumpy rather than spiral in shape. It appears that low spin is to blame. The finding challenges an earlier theory that high levels of gas cause clumpy galaxies, and sheds light on the conditions that brought about the birth of most of the stars in the universe.Full Story

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Gemini Observatory

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